MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. -
Leita Rolfe and
Stacy Bjorlie of
The University of South Dakota women's swimming and diving team recorded NCAA Division II automatic qualifying times on day one of the Falcon Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin-River Falls on Friday. The USD women's swimming and diving team had seven, top-eight finishes at the meet. The Coyote men's team recorded several top-20 finishes in the first day of the meet.
Rolfe (Newcastle, Wyo.) led the Coyotes to a second-place finish in the 200 IM with a NCAA Division II swimming and diving qualifying time ("A" standard) of 2:07.86. Rolfe also led the 400 medley relay (3:56.25) to a second-place finish, narrowly missing the NCAA qualifying time. The team included Megan Gordon (Sr., Grand Rapids, Minn.); Erin Wagoner (Jr., Newcastle, Wyo.) and Stacy Bjorlie (Jr., Austin, Minn.). Bjorlie also finished second in the 50 freestyle with an NCAA swimming and diving automatic qualifying time ("A" standard) of 23.88.
Also in the 500 free, Mary Holman (Jr., Bloomington, Minn.) placed sixth in 5:14.17 and Megan Finnie (So., Port Orchard, Wash.) finished seventh in 5:15.31. The 200 free relay of Jenny Kohlbrand (Sr., Newcastle, Wyo.), Rita Buschbacher (Brighton, Mich.), Jenna VonFange (So., Wichita, Kans.) and Bjorlie finished fifth with the time of 1:39.18. Other notable performances included ninth-place finishes from Sallie Collins (Fr., Hastings, Minn.) in the 200 IM (2:13.97) and Kohlbrand in the 50 free (24.75).
The men's team was led by five top-20 finishes in the 200 IM from Raymond Wieser (Fr., Vacaville, Calif.), 5th, 2:00.38; Josh Fleming (Lincoln, Neb.), eighth, 2:01.84; Jared Bronson (Fr., St. Louis, Mo.), 15th, 2:04.30; Mike Kubicek (So., Lincoln, Neb.), 2:04.51, 16th; and Brian Viger (Jr., Fridley, Minn.), 19th, 2:05.49. The 200 free relay finished ninth in 1:28.97 with the team of Mike Olson (Fr., Lincoln, Neb.), Tim Murman (Sr. Lincoln, Neb.), Wieser, and Nate West (So., Lincoln, Neb.). West also finished 14th in the men's 50 freestyle in 22.46. David Lind (Sr., Kearney, Neb.) was 20th in the 500 freestyle in 4:58.40. The men's 400 medley relay finished eighth in 3:43.05 with a team of Viger, Wieser, Jody Lutz (So., Ardmore, Okla.) and Murman.
The USD swimming and diving squads will continue competition at the Falcon Invitational on Saturday in Minneapolis.
